A variety of bubble generating toys exists with the simplest perhaps being a stick having a circular member mounted on the top. The circular member is dipped into a bubble solution or bubble producing liquid (e.g., soap) and then removed with a circular opening thereof then being covered with a film of the bubble solution. Blowing air against the film or waving the stick results in the formation of an individual bubble and perhaps several other individual bubbles.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,527,935 (Joel, II) describes a device which is used to generate a bubble within a bubble and includes a handle connected to a parallel combination of two rings with one ring having a smaller diameter than the other. The handle is connected to the larger ring which is connected via a supporting arm to the smaller ring. The two rings are placed in a bubble solution to form films across each. With the smaller ring placed in front of a persons mouth, air is blown across the smaller and larger rings to generate a bubble with a bubble. This device can relatively easily malfunction, and even when generating a bubble within a bubble, the two bubbles can stick together. Although not completely understood, it is thought that the reason this bubble generator does not repeatedly generate the desired bubble within a bubble is that when a person puckers his(her) lips to generate a stream of air which will result in a bubble, most of the air hits the small ring and generates a small bubble and there is not enough air to both blow the small bubble into the second ring and/or to generate a larger bubble from the second ring.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,467,552 (Jernigan) describes a bubble blowing toy having two blowing loops connected by a common support member with the loops being disposed in perpendicular planes. The loops produce different types of bubbles. While one loop is being used to produce bubbles, the opposite end loop serves as a handle. One loop is used to generate a bubble within a bubble and the other loop is used to generate two bubbles that share a common side wall. This device can relatively easily malfunction, and even when generating a bubble within a bubble, the two bubbles can stick together.
U.S. Pat. No. 654,642 (James) and U.S. Pat. No. 2,213,391 (Gamble) are examples of bubble generating toys which generate at least one bubble within a bubble. Both use a hollow pipe connected to a circular member which has at least two passages formed there through. Blowing into each of the respective the pipes generates a bubble within a bubble. U.S. Pat. No. 3,402,502 is another example of a bubble generating toy which generates a bubble within a bubble. It uses a fairly complex structure having inner and outer shells and valve. With the value in a first position one blows into a mouthpiece to generate a first bubble. The position of the valve is then changed and then one blows into the mouthpiece to generate a second bubble with surrounds the first bubble. This is a fairly complex device which is relatively expensive to implement.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,041,423 (Mausolf) also uses a hollow pipe connected to a circular member which has three to five passages formed there through to generate three or more bubbles which each share a portion of a common side wall. It does not generate a bubble within a bubble.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,102,764 (Thai) describes a bubble producing assembly which includes a handle, an electrically powered variable speed fan, a primary loop, and a plurality of secondary loops. This assembly is capable of producing a bubble within a bubble or multiple bubbles with a bubble. It is relatively complex and expensive to produce. The turning on of the assembly and subsequent control of the speed of the motor is all that is needed to produce bubbles. Essentially no eye, hand, mouth coordination is required. This limits the amusement value and learning potential for children.
It is desirable to have a bubble generator which generates a bubble within a bubble, is relatively inexpensive to produce, provides a user with amusement, can improve hand and mouth coordination, and is more reliable than the bubble-in-bubble generator described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,527,935.